Various surgical procedures are routinely carried out intravascularly or intraluminally. For example, in the treatment of vascular disease, such as arteriosclerosis, it is a common practice to invade the artery and insert an instrument (e.g., a balloon or other type of catheter) to carry out a procedure within the artery. Such procedures usually involve the percutaneous puncture of the artery so that an insertion sheath may be placed in the artery and thereafter instruments (e.g., catheters) may pass through the sheath to an operative position within the artery. Intravascular and intraluminal procedures unavoidably present the problem of stopping the bleeding at the percutaneous puncture after the procedure has been completed and after the instruments (and any insertion sheaths used therewith) have been removed. Bleeding from puncture sites, particularly in the case of femoral arterial punctures, is typically stopped by utilizing vascular closure devices, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,090,130 and 6,045,569, which are hereby incorporated in their entireties herein by this reference.
Typical closure devices such as the ones described in the above-mentioned patents are operable with an insertion sheath that has a specifically designed closure device interface and other features unique to a vascular closure procedure (i.e., a closure insertion sheath). The insertion sheath used with the intraluminal treatment instruments (i.e., a procedural sheath) is typically exchanged with the closure insertion sheath after completion of the intraluminal treatment and before closure of the puncture. Sheath exchanges can be time consuming and may result in complications for the patient and operator. There is a need for improved insertion sheaths and methods that limit the need for sheath exchanges related to a tissue puncture closure such as a vascular closure.